


"Pull over. Let me drive for a while."

by impulse_baker



Series: 100 Ways to Say 'I Love You' [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Impala, M/M, Pining, Road Trips, just a little, just general sweetness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 05:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12857970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impulse_baker/pseuds/impulse_baker
Summary: Dean and Cas are driving back after a wendigo hunt. It's late, Dean is tired and stubborn and all he wants to do is hold Cas' hand.The first drabble of a series about all the little ways Dean and Cas have told each other how in love they are, without actually saying it.





	"Pull over. Let me drive for a while."

“What do you mean Led Zeppelin as I know it almost didn’t come to be?” Dean asked indignantly, throwing a disbelieving glare at the passenger side. He and Cas were driving back after taking down a wendigo in Oregon. Sam was with Kevin back at the Bunker, helping the kid recover from one of Dean’s attempts at teaching him to loosen up. Turns out excessive booze, boobs and billiards isn’t for everyone.

“I’m just saying that if it wasn’t for a short, bearded man, Jimmy Page would have not confronted Robert Plant about being in the band.” Castiel explained, keeping his eyes on the road, because _someone_ had to.

“How do you know?”

“Time travel can be very educational, especially when I have unending time stretching out in front of me.”

“So that’s what you do when we sleep or when you disappear from us? You jump around time for Jeopardy answers?”

“I don’t understand…”

“You…never mind.”

“I was curious about the music that you so love, so I went back to learn more. I wanted to understand them better.” The _I wanted to understand you better_ goes unsaid.

Dean yawned and returned his focus to the road ahead. “You’re not the only one who knows fancy trivia, show off. Did you know that rabbits actually don’t like carrots as much as we think? Yeah, because they’re too sweet and could actually be really bad for them.” He said proudly, raising his eyebrows expectantly. “Pretty interesting, huh?”

“You seem to forget that I was around for Creation, and witnessed the evolution of the fluffy mammals you know as bunnies.” The angel deadpanned.

Dean grumbled to himself about not just humoring him and suppressed another yawn as they passed a mile marker letting them know they were still two hundred miles away from Lebanon. It was nice to ride with Cas. Whether they quietly listened to his cassettes (or rather while Cas listened quietly as Dean sang along to every word and mimicked the guitar solos), or talked about the day’s random hot topic between them, Dean always noticed a warmth settling over him. It was like a blanket was being tucked in around him and contentedness was ghosting its touches along his skin. It was different from having Sam riding shotgun. Sam complained about the outdated tape deck. He replaced beer with smoothies, which he would have actually not minded except _who put vegetables in smoothies and what the hell is a chard?_ Sam would lean his head against the window and drift off, soft snores disappearing behind John Paul Jones’ steady bass line. Sam needed regular bathroom breaks because apparently having a moose sized bladder doesn’t mean he can hold it longer. Not to say that Dean didn’t love a long drive with his brother by his side. Having Cas was just different.

Cas stayed awake no matter how long the trip was, even though the angel sometimes chose to sleep. He said it was meditative, but it still disconcerted Dean to think of how _human_ it was. Cas also adhered to his rule of ‘driver picks the music, shot gun shuts their cake hole’ and oftentimes out of his peripheral view, Dean could see one of those long tan fingers subtly tapping against his thigh to the beat. When Cas rode along across the bench seat from him he could catch glimpses of bright blue irises in the passing flashes of pale yellow flood lights. _Eyes on the road, Dean_ , the angel would always gently chide him when his attention was diverted away too much. His tone was always calm, and while his face remained stoic, Dean could hear the minute quirks of his lips, as if he were smiling at a joke Dean wasn’t aware of. He liked to think he knew what that was about. Sometimes he liked to imagine they were both in on the same joke and that they left it unsaid because it had already been put out in the open. But whatever _it_ was, it brought him the closest thing to peace that he knew.  

“Dean?” Castiel’s voice interrupted his musings, causing his wrist to twitch, pulling the steering wheel slightly to the left.

“Hmm?”

“Are you alright?” The angel nodded his head at Dean a little, as if daring him to lie and respond with the affirmative.

“Just got lost in the tunes, you know?” He grinned, trying to play it off as a joke.

“Should we stop somewhere for the night, so you can rest? The hike to find the wendigo wasn’t a short one. You must be tired.”

Dean could practically feel as well as hear the concern radiating from him and it was just another layer to the blanket of security Castiel, perhaps unknowingly, swaddled him in.

“No man, it’s ok. We’re only a couple hours out. I just want to get back as soon as possible, you know?”

“I could ease your fatigue, then.” Cas’ hand reached forward just a few inches on the bench in quiet offering of his healing touch. Dean’s muscled ached to meet him halfway perhaps, because even without his grace, the angel could soothe away his tension and weariness with the simplest contact. A hand on his shoulder, a brief palm against the small of his back, even just brushing shoulders made relief seep into him like a cooling balm. He thought it would maybe be alright if he put his hand on Cas’. It could make sense in the moment. They probably wouldn’t even say anything about it. Cas was kind to him that way.

But he didn’t.

He never did. One day he would be brave enough, but now was not that time. One day he would let himself have that, let himself believe Cas wanted it, too. But not today.

“Dean?” This time he felt his neck jerk back. _Dammit._

“You almost nodded off for a second.”

“Come on, Cas, I’d rather we didn’t stop or spend the money on a room only a few hours away from home.”

There was a moment of quiet, as if Castiel was weighing his options, picking his battles.

“Pull over. Let me drive for a while.”

Despite the gentleness of his tone, Dean could tell it was more of a command than a mere suggestion or request. The angel had only driven the Impala a handful of times, only when Dean was too injured to say anything against it. Right now, he was neither bleeding or physically broken or in any unbearable amount of pain. He couldn’t really justify letting him drive in his mind.

“Fine.” His words surprised even himself but by the faint smug look on his face, Dean could tell his angel felt immensely victorious. He stopped the car on the shoulder of the two-way road and turned his emergency signal on, shooting a purposeful look at Cas as if to say _look how attentive and alert I am being._

They got out and switched seats, Castiel settling nicely into the driver’s side like he belonged there; like the indistinct dip Dean made in the seat from years and years of sitting there was just right to fit Castiel, too.

 

Dean must have been more tired than he thought because when he woke up the next morning on his memory foam mattress, he had a vague fuzzy memory of feeling Castiel’s fingers caressing his jaw and whispering _rest now, I’ll wake you when we get home._ One day he would be brave enough to ask Cas about it, but not today. He needed to go make coffee for a certain angel as thanks for driving and letting him sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> I really like to think that Chuck had some small part to do with some of the stuff that has happened through history, because come on, Led Zeppelin has some kind of celestial influence.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it!


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